The owners and players exited the conference room around 1 a.m. on Thursday morning with a new offer to consider, but no agreement. Maybe if this happened in say, September, there would be reason for optimism. But we’re running out of time.

With the lockout lingering into another week, the NHL labor talks are set to resume on Tuesday with owners and players scheduled to meet while a couple of key figures remain on the sidelines of the negotiations.